Sunrise for my sister

Well over a year ago, I told my sister I would make her a sunrise bead with a black cactus on it.  I had seen someone wearing one and really liked it, but didn't want to copy.  However I figured it was OK if I was going to give it to my sister.  Well, I finally got around to making it, only instead of a cactus I put a black tree on it.

I'm going to see if she sees the blog post here before I give it to her - how long should I wait?

Copper Bails for Disc Type Beads

I have finally figured out how to hang disc type beads without them wobbling back and forth.  Thanks to the ladies who commented on a previous post, and got my brain thinking in the right direction.

This first picture shows the front of the finished piece.  The disc bead has been attached to the bail, and then I have slipped a rubber tubing neck cord through the hole/channel.  I have also made some smaller channeled ones that will be great for a finer leather cord that I have.

The second photo shows the back of the finished piece, and gives you an idea of how I attached the disc bead and the danglies.

The third and last photo shows the bails I made from sheet copper before being attached to the disc.  I think these will work perfectly with the poppy disc flowers that I made too.

Thank you to all of you who made me think outside the box to figure this out!

To all my Canadian followers - hope you are having a great Thanksgiving weekend.  I am cooking today's dinner/feast - ham, yam and potato bake, carrots from our garden, and sprouts in lemon sauce.  Dessert is baked apples from one of our trees with vanilla ice cream (of course).



Flowers

Most of the 5 acres on which I live is in evergreen woods, however around the house we have a bit of "tamed" area.  These two shrubs are some of the lovely ones that come out at this time of year.  They are however a couple of weeks late this year, with all the cold weather we have been having.  The last couple of days have been quite nice, but the weatherman says we are in for some more rain!!  So these lovely shrubs will probably break many of their branches with the weight of their saturated blossoms.

The white orange blossom is right beside our front steps and the smell is just incredible - quite intoxicting in fact.  A few years ago we chopped it right back and divided it up and planted them in various locations around the property - it's really pretty.

Sorry, no beads today.  I have been trying to get over this cold, and haven't felt like lighting the torch.  I did manage to get out there today for a couple of hours and got some orders done - not that they can go anywhere with this @#$%& Canada Post strike on.

However I have been working on something else, and will probably show the reveal in the next few days - if it works, that is!

Happy Father's Day (and new beads)

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there!  I hope you all have a day doing what you love the most.  I am postponing seeing my Dad until I am rid of my cold - the 2nd one in a month.  I think I need to take some vitamins or something!

I have a couple of new sets of beads for you to look at in my Etsy shop:  Aegean Seas and Supernova.

                                                                    AEGEAN SEAS

                                                                     SUPERNOVA

Have a great day!

Sad Times And New Beads

I am sorry I haven't been blogging lately, but it has been a sad few weeks for my family.  My Mother has been in the palliative care ward of the hospital, and passed away quietly this last Saturday evening, March 19.  We will all miss her terribly.  My sister and I have been helping our Dad get everything sorted out,  and trying to come to terms with our loss.  It will be a long process, but we will get through it with the support of our family and friends.  Many thanks to all of you who have expressed support either privately or here on my blog.

I don't like to dwell on sorrows, so I am also posting a picture of some "happy" beads.  I made them in response to a request for some ladybug beads.  As I took the class from Melanie Moertel last June, I was able to make what I consider some really cute little ladybugs.  If they are not quite what my customer has in mind then they will go on Etsy in the next couple of days.

Ladybugs and Flowers

Wishing you all a happy, sunny week!

I Won!!

Staci Louise of Staci Louise Originals had a "not so little" giveaway/pay it forward the other day.       
All you had to do was to post a comment about how someone had helped you smile or feel good when you needed it the most.  The selection was by a random generator - and it picked me - what a clever random thingy - lol ! 

Some of you already know that my Mom is in hospital gravely ill, and will not be coming out.  It is just a matter of time - and probably a very short time.  I commented that it is so nice to have some friends (and a great sister too) who are quite content to just listen to me when I am feeling down.

Along with winning all kinds of beady goodies, the winner (that would be me) has to do their own pay it forward giveaway.  I am going through my stash of beads, and my own lampwork beads too, and will post a picture in a day or two (sorry, I don't have it ready now) and will then ask for everone to comment.  So wait until I do the post with the pictures of what is up for grabs before you comment.

Sorry, no new bead porn pics today - but here is a picture of some "Happy Days" beads I photographed for my photography class.

Have a great week!

No, no, no, not again!!

You got it - it's snowing here again!  Oh well, can't fight Mother Nature.

My daughter and I have been taking photography lessons each Tuesday evening, and my daughter took a great picture at the beach near where we live.  So I asked her to make it into a new banner for my blog.  I love it - see above.  Now all I need to do is to figure out how to make a border around it - I think I'll ask her to do that too - it's great having a computer savvy daughter!

Oh goodie - she has put the border around the banner - great kid!

Look Out - Coming Through!

Jackson just loves to steal Alley's ball - he is such a bad boy - lol.  He has so much fun stealing it and running off, and poor old girl, she doesn't know what has happened because she is blind - life is just not fair!  He usually gets tired of the game and drops it, and she has such a good nose that she can follow where he has gone with it, so she does get it back in the end and is so pleased with herself.

Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry, but he was moving fast!

Have a great day!

What's In A Name???

I think that I find naming my beads the hardest part of the whole process.  I just couldn't come up with a name for this set - so ended up naming it "Woodland" - not overly appropriate for this set, but that's what it ended up as.
Please accept my apologies for not posting very many new beads lately.  My  mother is in the hospital trying to recover from a stroke, so I am running up there most days to help her with eating etc.  Thankfully my sister lives here too, so we try to take turns.
I am not sure just how much beadmaking and blogging I will be able to do in the next few weeks - only time will tell.

WOODLAND

Thanks for looking!

Merry Christmas!

Everyone always laughs at our funny little Christmas tree, with it's oversize ornaments and slightly wonky star.  However we love it, and refuse to get another one.  It is actually the top one third of a much larger tree.  We decided one year that we just didn't have the room to put up the whole tree, and so just used the top one third - and that is the way it has been ever since.  At the end of the year, we just put a large plastic garbage bag over the whole thing, and consign it to a shelf in the basement for another year.  Works for us!

I hope you all have a very Happy Christmas with family and friends all around.

Halloween Elf

My granddaughter decided she wanted to be an elf for Halloween.  I think she makes a spectacular elf - but I could be biased!  She did this yesterday for school (grade 12).

She applied fake points to her ears, and blended them in with makeup, then put on really long false eyelashes to just the outer edges of her eye lids.  I love her dress too - I think she looks very "Lord of the Rings".

Have a very spooktacular Halloween everyone!

Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner

This year the menu was:  ham, 3 potatoe scallop (yam, sweet and regular), sprouts in parmesan lemon sauce, and the peas and carrots were supposed to be squash, but the squash was all watery and pale so we had to make a last minute substitution.  Dessert was pumpkin cheesecake with caramel pecan sauce and whipped cream - YUM!!!!

Good thing there are left overs for tonight!

Pacific Reef - side 1

Pacific Reef - side 2

This is one of my Pacific Reef focal beads.  This bead  is 1 1/2" across - a biggie!  I managed to get this one done before the concentrator collapse.

Bye for now.